Tigers Favored To Take 3rd Title

There's no hope of Northwestern coach Mike Pladus becoming "comfortably numb" after last year's wrestling team went undefeated in the Centennial League for the second straight year.

The Tigers were the top team in the league, the district and the region, but due to some unfortunate upsets in the opening round of the PIAA Class AA Tournament at Hershey, finished out of the team money there. Fifth place league finisher Northern Lehigh ended up by copping the state title.

Pladus was disappointed last year, and the rest of the Centennial League coaches are still wary to take the Tiger by the tail. They are giving Northwestern the edge in repeating as league champions for a third straight time.

Still, not everyone's running scared. Stroudsburg, with eight returning starters, and Northern Lehigh, with a pair of second place finishers at the state meet last year, are both figured as strong threats. Pocono Mountain, coached by wily Ed Watto, can be a spoiler as well.

Following is a capsule summary of each team:

EAST STROUDSBURG (5-11)

The Cavaliers return nine starters from last year, but first year coach Sam Elias figures the young squad is at least a year away from being a Centennial League competitor and is hoping for a .500 season.

Leading the way for East Stroudsburg will be sophomore 98-pounder Brandon "B.J." Gallagher, senior Joe Widmar (119 or 126), junior Charlie Smith (112 or 119) and senior Tom Barnick (132).

"This is my first year at East-burg," Elias pointed out. "My main concern is to get more kids out and be able to outwrestle some of our opponents through conditioning. We have a lot of youngsters in the lineup that must want to be hungry and hate to lose. If the young kids come around, we might be able to reach .500."

LEHIGHTON (5-14)

Second year coach Jim Neifert has a hard time seeing his team's strengths. He will be starting four or five people in their very first year of wrestling.

"We're green, we're young," he said. "It'll take us a little time. I like the attitude of the kids, though. They're hustling and working hard.

"I think I've got a better team than last year, but so does everybody else. When the fifth-place team in our league wins the state title, that tells you something about our league."

Returning for the Indians are brothers Butch (senior, 145) and Troy (sophomore, 126) Hartman. Senior Rich Bloom returns at 155 while senior Wes Eidem is at 185 and junior Brad Klutz is at 167.

NORTHERN LEHIGH (11-6)

The Bulldogs had the championship tournament team a year ago, capturing the PIAA Class AA team title thanks to Larry Rehrig, Don Evans and John Chang.

Rehrig (138) and Evans (185) are returning seniors who finished second in the state last year, so sixth year coach Bob Kern has high hopes for the end of the year for those two outstanding grapplers.

Despite returning 10 starters, Kern doesn't think the Bulldogs will contend for the league championship. Another strong state hopeful for the team is junior Ron Heller (126), a state qualifier last year. Senior heavyweight Mike Kistler was third in the league last year. Both Evans and Rehrig are defending league, district and regional champs.

"If our other starters mature early," Kern explained, "we may surprise some teams. Our top goal this year is to repeat as state champs, and with hard work, the goal is within our reach."

NORTHWESTERN (16-0)

The Tigers are coming off their second straight 8-0 league showing (48-6 overall in three years). Sixth-year coach Mike Pladus is once again looking for another strong effort thanks to seven quality returners.

Senior George "Butch" Padamonsky leads the returners. Butch will wrestle 155 after finishing sixth in the state last year. Sophomore Scott Derr moves up a couple of classes to 112 after a first place district and third place league finish a year ago.

Junior Dave Leiby will be up at 138 after a third place regional finish, and junior Tony Shalbert, fourth in the district, moves from 105 to 132.

"It is difficult to prognosticate exactly how strong we'll be," Pladus offered, "but led by people like Derr, Shalbert, Padamonsky, Leiby and others who have been around the program for a while, I'll be disappointed if we don't have another fine season."

The Crusaders return just five wrestlers, but would dearly love to improve last year's dismal record. Their chances are hurt by the transfer of 98- pounder Jeff Dutt to Wilson.

Mike Mahoney, a senior 126-pounder, was 27-3-1 last year while classmate Phil Marth (145) was 14-10. Sophomore Mark Schroeder (112) was 15-14, and those three are expected to provide the brunt of Notre Dame's scoring.